Pitt
ArboristSite Lurker
Tell me what you think Folks...
I have posted this in hopes of sending the link to my friend who borrowed and broke my saw..
The Story:
I went to help my friend dropl some trees. We are by no means seasoned at this being City boys; he just bought land that needs to be cleared.
I own only one tree, so being a motor head, I am eager to share my love of all things engine with my buddy bud, so I filled my truck with saws and head over.
The saw I brought over was a modified stihl motored MS 880 that had two tanks of gas run through it since new. ( its a out of warentee). So after helping friend for no more then 10 cuts, I say my goodbye's and leave him my saw to use. One week late, I get the call... He says that although he was watching over it, a day laborer he hired used the saw without his permission and somehow broke the saw. When I say broke, we mean BROKE! The piston or rod or wrist pin, whatever they have, let loose and came through the block.
The call came in as " I think I killed your saw, don't worry we will fix it" but the wording is unimportant until you read on...
So I laugh it off with "friend' and then even have him over to hang out and we laugh at his fumble. Well two weeks go by and he is searching for the parts that my repair guy needs to fix the saw. But when said friends realizes that the saw is big $$$$'s, the sentiment changes from "don't worry, we will get it fixed" to "anytime something is more then $500, I feel funny about it. That if the saw was $100 he wouldn't mind paying up. I then explained that if it were $100 I wouldn't mind either, in fact, I would have just paid for it myself, but its not.
He says that the saw was no doubt going to break regardless of who was using it, and that the saw was obviously either defective or improperly built (its a mid mod saw with open exhaust and ported intake)....
So the end result was that I said I felt that regardless of the circumstances, if I were in possession of one of his items and it got damaged, even damaged out of my control, that I would in fact replace the item no questions asked.
His take was this... "When you lend someone something that you trust, you are sure that they wouldn't purposefully treat the item carelessly and if in fact they do not abuse the item or experience an unusual circumstance, then they are in no way liable for the item borrowed". In fact, he felt that if the shoe were on the other foot, that he would think of "breakage" as part of the risk incurred when lending someone an item. (I feel this is insane! I feel that you should be very grateful that someone shares and gives to you and that you should reward them by at least treating their possessions with great care apposed to punishing them by retuning it to them broken)
He feels that as long as the borrower is properly using an item, not abusing it or being wreckless, there is no burden on the borrower to replace or in this case even repair the item. (This is against everything I believe in!)
Lastly, since the thing is modded, its a pretty penny to fix. Even before I knew he was going to balk at paying for the saw, I suggested that since it was mine, (and yes, it really shouldn't break so easily) I felt that I would split the repair with him 50/50. This to was not right according to him. He brought up a football game we attended that ended up with the boys having a pile on that resulted in him needing to see a doc for his back. He say, "Should I have charged you for the amount I paid for the doctor bills incurred, because you were on top of the pile?" (I again think this is insane!)
I work as a mechanic, my belief is this... If its in my possession, its my problem regardless. If I borrow your car and its damaged in a hail storm (an act of God that I cannot control) I owe you a paint job.
For Example, I had a vehicle in for a simple tune up. Upon removing the car from my repair bay, the transmission broke its reverse gear. Guess what? I stayed at work and repaired the trans for free. Now I am sure that I didn't do anything wrong, but it broke while in my care and custody. So I fixed it.
Oh, and this friend currently is in possession of an expensive bike of mine. When asked, he made me aware that if he cracked the frame while riding it normally, he would not expect to replace the bike frame. ( I have asked for the prompt return of the bikes in his possession!)
Before you all pile on, here is another hypothetical. Let say the saw wasn't new... Lets say you borrowed an 8 yr old saw or a 10 year old camera, both are no longer made and you broke it...Do you still replace the item? Do you offer full value to the owner or a partial? Its old so why pay for a new one?
:help:
Besides the advice to not loan tools out, what are your thoughts and what would you do if you were on either side of the coin.
I have posted this in hopes of sending the link to my friend who borrowed and broke my saw..
The Story:
I went to help my friend dropl some trees. We are by no means seasoned at this being City boys; he just bought land that needs to be cleared.
I own only one tree, so being a motor head, I am eager to share my love of all things engine with my buddy bud, so I filled my truck with saws and head over.
The saw I brought over was a modified stihl motored MS 880 that had two tanks of gas run through it since new. ( its a out of warentee). So after helping friend for no more then 10 cuts, I say my goodbye's and leave him my saw to use. One week late, I get the call... He says that although he was watching over it, a day laborer he hired used the saw without his permission and somehow broke the saw. When I say broke, we mean BROKE! The piston or rod or wrist pin, whatever they have, let loose and came through the block.
The call came in as " I think I killed your saw, don't worry we will fix it" but the wording is unimportant until you read on...
So I laugh it off with "friend' and then even have him over to hang out and we laugh at his fumble. Well two weeks go by and he is searching for the parts that my repair guy needs to fix the saw. But when said friends realizes that the saw is big $$$$'s, the sentiment changes from "don't worry, we will get it fixed" to "anytime something is more then $500, I feel funny about it. That if the saw was $100 he wouldn't mind paying up. I then explained that if it were $100 I wouldn't mind either, in fact, I would have just paid for it myself, but its not.
He says that the saw was no doubt going to break regardless of who was using it, and that the saw was obviously either defective or improperly built (its a mid mod saw with open exhaust and ported intake)....
So the end result was that I said I felt that regardless of the circumstances, if I were in possession of one of his items and it got damaged, even damaged out of my control, that I would in fact replace the item no questions asked.
His take was this... "When you lend someone something that you trust, you are sure that they wouldn't purposefully treat the item carelessly and if in fact they do not abuse the item or experience an unusual circumstance, then they are in no way liable for the item borrowed". In fact, he felt that if the shoe were on the other foot, that he would think of "breakage" as part of the risk incurred when lending someone an item. (I feel this is insane! I feel that you should be very grateful that someone shares and gives to you and that you should reward them by at least treating their possessions with great care apposed to punishing them by retuning it to them broken)
He feels that as long as the borrower is properly using an item, not abusing it or being wreckless, there is no burden on the borrower to replace or in this case even repair the item. (This is against everything I believe in!)
Lastly, since the thing is modded, its a pretty penny to fix. Even before I knew he was going to balk at paying for the saw, I suggested that since it was mine, (and yes, it really shouldn't break so easily) I felt that I would split the repair with him 50/50. This to was not right according to him. He brought up a football game we attended that ended up with the boys having a pile on that resulted in him needing to see a doc for his back. He say, "Should I have charged you for the amount I paid for the doctor bills incurred, because you were on top of the pile?" (I again think this is insane!)
I work as a mechanic, my belief is this... If its in my possession, its my problem regardless. If I borrow your car and its damaged in a hail storm (an act of God that I cannot control) I owe you a paint job.
For Example, I had a vehicle in for a simple tune up. Upon removing the car from my repair bay, the transmission broke its reverse gear. Guess what? I stayed at work and repaired the trans for free. Now I am sure that I didn't do anything wrong, but it broke while in my care and custody. So I fixed it.
Oh, and this friend currently is in possession of an expensive bike of mine. When asked, he made me aware that if he cracked the frame while riding it normally, he would not expect to replace the bike frame. ( I have asked for the prompt return of the bikes in his possession!)
Before you all pile on, here is another hypothetical. Let say the saw wasn't new... Lets say you borrowed an 8 yr old saw or a 10 year old camera, both are no longer made and you broke it...Do you still replace the item? Do you offer full value to the owner or a partial? Its old so why pay for a new one?
:help:
Besides the advice to not loan tools out, what are your thoughts and what would you do if you were on either side of the coin.
